Sunday Notes: Cade Horton Is an Emerging Ace With an Old-School Approach

Cade Horton hasn’t simply been one of the best rookie pitchers in MLB this year, he has been one of the better starters in the senior circuit. The 24-year-old Chicago Cubs right-hander has a record of 11-4 to go with a 2.66 ERA and a 3.53 FIP over 115 frames. Moreover, he boasts a 0.93 ERA over his last 11 starts. In Triple-A to begin the season — his Cubs’ debut came on May 10th — Horton is now poised to start for Craig Counsell’s club in October,

My colleague Michael Baumann wrote about the 2022 first-rounder just over a month ago, but given his continued success, and with the postseason looming, another article seemed in order. Already well-informed on his background and arsenal, I asked Horton about the approach he takes with him to the mound.

“I’m a guy that is going to go out there and fill up the zone,” the erstwhile Oklahoma Sooner told me prior to a recent game at Wrigley Field. “I really just try to get outs and put my team in a good position to win. I’m a competitor, so I’m attacking the strike zone.”

Attacking the strike zone is, in many ways, akin to pitching to contact — more of an old-school approach to pitching — whereas in today’s game, chasing swing-and-miss is most often the goal. Given his high-octane heater and overall plus stuff, is he not looking to miss bats?

“I don’t really do that,” stated Horton, whose strikeout rate is a humble 20.4% (compared to 31.7% during his time in the minors). “Once I let go of the ball, I can’t control if the guy swings or not, so I’m not going out there trying to punch out 10 guys every game. Strikeouts just happen. Getting ahead, and staying ahead, is what leads to my having success. Plus, I feel like when I try to make guys swing and miss, they end up not swinging. I try to stay with what I can control.

“Strikeouts are cool and sexy, but I I have a really good defense behind me,” added Horton, whose walk rate is a respectable 7.1%. “Again, I’m out there to pitch and get outs. That’s what my job is.”

The way he approaches his arsenal also leans old-school. Horton throws a four-seam fastball that features cut-ride — “It’s something I’ve always had” — a slider that Baseball Savant categorizes as a sweeper, a curveball, a changeup, and a sinker. While by no means ignorant of why and where his pitches play best, he’s not someone you can expect to find in a pitch-lab poring over data.

“I try to simplify the game,” Horton explained. “I don’t really focus on the metrics. I’m more about just putting the ball in good locations, getting ahead with strike one, and reading how hitters react. I’m not focusing on shapes, and things like that. I’m focusing on attacking and getting outs.”

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Harry Heilmann went 13 for 18 against Hank Johnson.

Bill Dickey went 15 for 19 against Harry Kelley.

Larry Doby went 21 for 30 against Bob Kuzava.

Jason Giambi went 23 for 37 against Darren Oliver.

Gene Oliver went 20 for 51 against Sandy Koufax.

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Kyle Manzardo was a promising prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization when I talked to him for FanGraphs three years ago this month. Subsequently dealt to Cleveland in exchange for Aaron Civale at the 2023 trade deadline, Manzardo is currently contributing to a Guardians playoff push in his first full big-league season. I recently asked him how he has evolved since our initial conversation.

“My hitting approach has stayed the same, for the most part,” replied Manzardo. “I’m trying to drive the ball. I’ve obviously gotten better since then. Handling velocity would be the main area of growth. I feel that I do a pretty decent job of covering good fastballs now — I’ve done a lot of reps on high-velocity machines — but as far as my actual setup and swing, those are pretty much identical, at least to my knowledge.”

The 25-year-old first baseman/DH has 26 home runs and a 114 wRC+ over 507 plate appearances. Does he feel that he’s having a good season?

“I’m never satisfied,” Manzardo said to that question. “That’s kind of the nature of the game. I think even the best players in the game feel like they could be doing a little bit better.”

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The nominees for the 2025 Roberto Clemente Award were announced earlier this week, with no shortage of of deserving candidates. The honor is bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.

The bio for Bo Naylor, Cleveland’s nominee, caught my eye. It includes the following:

“Bo’s passion for others extends to his environment and animals, spending much of his time giving back at the Cleveland Animal Protective League and visiting the Cleveland Zoological Society. At the Cleveland Animal Protective League, Bo supports animal enrichment by making snacks, toys and blankets for the animals. He also spends time distributing enrichment items and playing with the animals.”

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A quiz:

Juan Marichal’s 238 wins are the most by a Giants pitcher since the team relocated from New York to San Francisco in 1958. Which Giants pitcher has the second-most wins since the franchise moved west?

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NEWS NOTES

The 2026 SABR Analytics Conference will be held from February 27-March 1 at Arizona State University in downtown Phoenix. Registration is now open.

Carlos Lezcano, an outfielder who played 49 games for the Chicago Cubs across the 1980-1981 seasons, died earlier this month at age 69. A cousin of erstwhile Milwaukee Brewers slugger Sixto Lezcano, the Arecibo, Puerto Rico native recorded 19 big-league hits, including three home runs.

Ted Ford, an outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers across the 1970-1973 seasons, died earlier this week at age 78. The Vineland, New Jersey native logged 101 of his 156 hits, and 14 of his 17 home runs, with the Rangers in 1972. His first-ever dinger came with Cleveland, a solo shot off of Mickey Lolich at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium.

The European Baseball Championships are underway. You can keep up with the action here.

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The answer to the quiz is Gaylord Perry, who was credited with 134 wins while pitching for the Giants from 1962-1971. Madison Bumgarner (119) and Tim Lincecum (108) rank third and fourth, respectively.

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Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet are the top contenders for this year’s American League Cy Young Award. Here is how the southpaws compare with one week left to go in the regular season:

Crochet: 17-5, 2.69 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 4.68 WPA, 249 strikeouts.
Skubal: 13-5, 2.23 ERA, 2.48 FIP, 4.00 WPA, 233 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, another portsider would be a serious contender for the honor if not for a comparably-modest body of work. Trevor Rogers has toed the rubber 17 times for the Baltimore Orioles and is 9-2 with a 1.35 ERA and a 2.43 FIP over 106-and-two-third innings. His ERA is the lowest in the majors among pitchers — starters or relievers — who have tossed at least 60 frames.

The O’s acquired Rogers from the Marlins at last summer’s trade deadline in exchange for Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, and the deal is looking good for both sides. Norby’s numbers this season are nothing to write home about — they include a 90 wRC+ and 0.5 WAR — but Stowers has come into his own. The Stanford product has 25 home runs, as well as a 148 wRC+ and 4.0 WAR. As for Rogers, his 3.9 WAR ranks sixth-best among junior circuit hurlers.

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A random obscure former player snapshot:

Cass Michaels was 17 years old when he made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1943, and he did so under the last name he was born with. A Detroit native who grew up in the then-heavily-Polish enclave of Hamtramck, the infielder played his initial games as Cass Kwietniewski (his given first name was Casimir).

He went on to have a solid career. Michaels played for four teams — primarily the White Sox — over 11 big-league seasons, logging 1,142 hits, including 53 home runs, and posting a 94 wRC+. An American League All-Star in both 1949 and 1950, he singled off of Hall of Famer Robin Roberts in the second of those mid-summer classics.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Anthony Kay has a 9-6 record to go with a 1.71 ERA and a 2.44 FIP over 147 innings for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The 30-year-old left-hander is in his second NPB season after pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets across the 2019-2023 campaigns.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks second baseman/outfielder Taisei Makihara has a .304 batting average and a .316 OBP over 403 plate appearances. He has 116 hits and six walks on the season.

Lewin Díaz set a KBO record for most RBIs by a foreign-born player earlier this week when the Samsung Lions slugger’s three-run homer — he’s gone deep 48 times — brought his total to 142 for the season. Eric Thames held the old record, with 140 RBIs in 2015.

Cody Ponce suffered his first defeat of the season yesterday as the Hanwha Eagles lost to the KT Wiz by a count of 4-2. The 31-year-old former Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander is now 17-1 with a 1.85 ERA.

Dong Ju Moon is 11-4 with a 3.68 ERA and a 2.74 FIP over 117-and-a-third innings for the Eagles. The 21-year-old right-hander is one of the highest-rated international players from South Korea on The Board.

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Braydon Fisher is having an outstanding rookie season with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 25-year-old right-hander has taken the mound 49 times and logged a 2.63 ERA, a 2.92 FIP, and a 31.2% strikeout rate over 48 innings. His stat sheet also includes a save, as well as a spotless 7-0 won-lost record.

One of his outings been as an opener, that on the final day of May in a game against the Athletics. Roughly a month later, I asked the League City, Texas native how preparing for a “start” differed from his usual reliever routine.

“A lot the same, although it is different,” said Fisher, who has pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen since 2021, his first full professional season. “You’re kind of dictating the way the game is going, whereas when you come out of the pen the game has already been set in a certain direction and you’re kind of playing off of that direction.

“But I did [prepare] like a reliever,” added Fisher. “We went over the first three hitters, kind of like we do in the bullpen. It was, ‘OK, you’re preparing for hitters A, B, and C, and then D is this guy.’ When I went back out there for a second inning — I went an inning-and-a-third — it was pretty much the same. We looked at the lineup to see who was next in line, and which side of the plate they stand on. I pretty much pitch to my strengths. If I get the ball to correct spots in the zone — and out of the zone — I have a pretty good shot at getting outs.”

Outs were hard to come by in his opener outing. Fisher retired just four of the nine batters he faced and was charged with five runs. The clunker skewed his overall numbers. Subtract the “start” from his ledger, and Fisher has a 1.74 ERA and a 2.24 FIP over 46-and-two-thirds innings.

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FARM NOTES

The West Michigan Whitecaps had a best-in-the-minors 96-35 record during the regular season, then went 4-0 in the postseason to capture the Midwest League championship. The top three prospects in the Detroit Tigers system — Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, and Josue Briceño — played for the Whitecaps before being promoted to Double-A Erie in early July.

Alfredo Duno captured Florida State League MVP honors after logging 18 home runs and a 164 wRC+ with the Low-A Daytona Tortugas. The 19-year-old catcher from Miranda, Venezuela is No. 2 in our Cincinnati Reds rankings, with a 55 FV.

Caleb Bonemer was named Carolina League MVP after putting up a 146 wRC+ and going deep 10 times for the Low-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Counting his 44 plate appearances with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash, the 19-year-old shortstop/third baseman had 12 homers and a 151 wRC+ on the season. Bonemer is No. 5 in our Chicago White Sox rankings, with a 45 FV.

Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz went 11-7 with a 2.42 ERA, a 2.45 FIP and a 29.6% strikeout rate over 145 innings between High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset. Acquired from the Boston Red Sox last winter in exchange for Carlos Narvaez, the 22-year-old right-hander is No. 4 in our New York Yankees rankings, with a 45 FV.

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Brandon Mann was featured here at FanGraphs earlier in the week, the subject at hand being changeups thrown by Miami Marlins pitchers. Left on the cutting-room floor from my conversation with the club’s bullpen coach was a related observation on right-hander Edward Cabrera, who has a 3.57 ERA and a 3.70 FIP over 128-and-two-thirds innings.

“The biggest thing with Cabby has always been, ‘Get him in the zone,’ because he has such incredible stuff,” said Mann. “I think he’s really bought into that this year. [Pitching coach] Daniel Moskos came over and, filling him with love, really got Cabby to buy into the mantra of ‘Attack the strike zone. Get ahead, get ahead, get ahead. Put him away.’ It’s like, ‘Fill up the zone early, then evacuate the zone in two-strike counts.’ That’s basically what he goes out and tries to do every game, versus trying to hit this small corner, or that small corner, which he’d been trying to do throughout his career.”

Cabrera has a 7.7% walk rate this season. Last year, that number was 12.0%, while his career mark coming into the current campaign was 13.3%.

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Dan Hubbs is well-versed on vertical approach angle. Formerly the director of pitching development for the Detroit Tigers, he is now the bullpen coach for the Athletics. A recent conversation I had with Hubbs included his thoughts on Sid Fernandez.

“I think he was VAA king,” Hubbs said of the southpaw, who excelled for the New York Mets in the 1980s and early 1990s. “He was a lower-slot guy with some carry. It was a unique look, almost like a push. The ball looked like it was rising at a time when we didn’t have the data to back that up. We called it an invisible fastball.

“Ian Kennedy was like that,” added Hubbs, who coached collegiately for two decades before joining the pro ranks. “He was same way at [the University of Southern California]. We were frustrated facing him, because he’d throw at the top of the zone and it was like, ‘How are we not hitting this guy?’ And then he had a 17-year big-league career because he could do that. Now we have ways to quantify it.”

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

The Athletic’s Chad Jennings and Eno Sarris teamed up to tell us about induced vertical break (IVB).

Awful Announcing announced the results of their MLB local radio booth rankings poll.

The Korea Herald’s Lee Si-Jin took us on a trip through Korea’s baseball culture.

The Miami Marlins’ minor league affiliates achieved their highest winning percentage in nearly two decades. Alex Krutchik wrote about it at Fish On First.

At CBS Sports, Dayn Perry wrote about managers whose jobs might be on the line.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

The Seattle Mariners have played 21 extra-inning games, the most in the majors. They have gone 10-11 in those contests. The Cleveland Guardians have 11 extra-inning wins, the most in the majors. They have gone to extras 17 times and lost six times.

The Guardians have won 10 straight and 15 of their last 16. In late June/early July, they had a stretch where they lost 10 straight and 13 of 16.

Mike Trout hit his 400th career home run yesterday. The future Hall of Famer has gone deep 200 times at home and 200 times on the road.

Gleyber Torres recorded his 1,000th career hit yesterday. Matt Chapman is next up to reach that milestone. He has 997 hits.

José Ramírez became Cleveland’s all-time leader in plate appearances earlier this week, surpassing Earl Averill’s career mark of 6,712.

Daylen Lile (who hit an 11th-inning inside-the park home run yesterday) has 331 plate appearances and 11 triples. St. Louis Cardinals batters have combined for 5,811 plate appearances and eight triples.

Trent Grisham has 33 home runs and nine doubles. Ernie Clement has nine home runs and 33 doubles.

Juan Soto has hit 10 home runs on full-count pitches this season, the most in the majors. Spencer Torkelson has seven full-count home runs, the second-highest total (per yesterday’s Tigers radio broadcast).

On today’s date in 1981, Andre Dawson hit a walk-off single in the 17th inning to give the Montreal Expos a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Steve Carlton went the first 10 innings for the losing side, while Ray Burris did the same for the victors.

On today’s date in 1934, Ripper Collins drove in six runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 13-0 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Dizzy Dean went the distance, running his record to 27-7 on the season.

Players born on today’s date include Gary Gray, a first baseman whose modest career included a ten-day stretch in which he had three multi-homer games. Playing for the Seattle Mariners in 1981, Gray went deep twice on each of May 16, 23, and 25. All told, he homered 24 times while seeing action for three teams over parts of six seasons.

Also born on today’s date was John McHale, an outfielder who totaled 22 hits, including three home runs, while playing in 64 games for the Detroit Tigers across the 1943-1948 seasons. The product of Detroit Catholic Central High School went on to become the Tigers general manager in 1957-1958, and later serve in that same role for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1959-1966, and the Montreal Expos from 1978-1984.